Actually, it’s Pat’s second. Ring (a personal Burton fave...beyond Metheny, for the much-overlooked Mick Goodrick, who’d been with Burton a couple years by this time, appearing on New Quartet from the previous year and Seven Songs for Qurtet and Chamber Orchestra from earlier in ‘74) was recorded July 23-24, 1974 and released later that year. Jaco, released on pianist Paul Bley’s Improvising Artists imprint the same year, was recorded a month earlier, on June 16, 1974. So, while I don’t have exact release dates for either Ring or Jaco, in terms of recording, Jaco was Metheny’s first album....but only by a relative hair Cheers! J
All of Metheny’s Group ECM albums are, IMO, pretty upbeat overall. American Garage’s “(Cross the) Heartland” and “Airstream,” for example; or Offramp’s “Eighteen” and “James,” and Travels’ “Straight On Red” and “Song for Bilbao,” for example. Other ECM albums that feel pretty upbeat, at least quite a bit? Both of Marc Johnson’s Bass Desires albums. Many of Dave Holland’s Quartet and Quintet albums, like Prime Directive, Extensions and Jumpin’ In. Jan Hammer’s two compositions on John Abercrombie”s Timeless. Collin Walcott”s Cloud Dance. Arild Andersen’s Molde Concert. Parts of Kenny Wheeler’s Gnu High, Deer Wan and Double, Double You. Jan Garbarek’s live album, Dresden.Teeje Rypdal’s Chasers and Blue. Many of Keith Jarrett’s Standards Trio, along with European Quartet albums, most notably Belonging, Personal Mountains and the archival live album, Sleeper. Nils Petter Molvær’s Khmer and Solid Ether, both have their moments. Stefany Bollani’s Joy In Spite of Everything. Enrico Rava’s The Words and the Days, Tribe, Easy Living and Rava On the Dance Floor. Mathias Eick’s Skala. Just a few that came to mind without much work ....
Eberhard Weber Colours - Silent Feet. W. German ECM CD, first version (red logo on disk). More from yesterday's flea-market mini haul, all ECM
For any interested, my review of the Colours Old & New Masters box from a few years back, which collects all three of Weber’s Colours group albums.
Currently playing: Wolfert Brederode: piano Gulli Gudmundsson: bass Jasper van Hulten: drums Anyone who enjoys Marcin Wasilewski or Tord Gustavsen will find a lot to like here. Quite mellow and some lovely melodic playing.
With my football team out of my adopted home’s TV market, my previously devoted Sundays to football have moved increasingly towards Jazz. Between investigating Kenny Dorham albums today, I sneaked in my Blue Maquems LP once again. This is a classic AND it stands alone in its sound. Just my novice point of view.
ECM is releasing a 50th Anniversary extended version of the 1st ECM album, on vinyl, Mal Waldron's Free At Last. Side A: Rat Now Balladina 1-3-234 Side B: Rock My Soul Willow Weep For Me Boo Side C: 1-3-234 [Var.] Balladina [Var.] Side D: Boo [Var.] Willow Weep For Me [Long Version
Hey John, love your posts, but it would be great if you could contribute more in the forum without linking to allaboutjazz
Where's this info from? I'm really hoping for a CD version of this, and wondering if your source has any news on this.
Release date is Nov 15 in Europe, Nov 22 in the US. No CD, only 2LP. It's announced on amazon, Music Direct, Acoustic Sounds, etc...
Damn! I have an original very first press and not sure I need a second vinyl copy... Not that that will necessarily stop me.
That's where I looked first and you are right. However it was mentioned that the release was coming in the obituary of Jazz By Post owner Manfred Scheffner on the news page.
Minnesota Vikings. I spent my first few decades as your immediate neighbor on the tundra to the south.
I appreciate your loving my posts, much appreciated. In a nutshell, since I came down with chronic fatigue syndrome five years ago, the number of usable hours I’ve got each day would be surprisingly few to you (4-5). So I don’t have time to participate on forums and social media as I used to - though in threads that I read (admittedly, few) and where I feel I’ve something to contribute, I do. This thread is a little different. With people listing ECM recordings, and my reviewing almost all regular series releases between 2004-2014,, and a scattered few since, the best comments I can make are my reviews. I’m not sure why you’ve a problem with my linking to AAJ. That’s where my reviews are, and I’m not permitted to insert the contents of entire reviews on other sites other than my own (if I had one; I don’t). I figure folks might be interested in relevant reviews, so post them - and if people want to engage in discussion after that, I’m happy to try to do so. Also, FYI, when I first came to this forum, the moderators asked that I only post links to my writing at AAJ when there’s already a thread that’s been created, where they’d be relevant (i.e. not start a thread with my review). I’ve followed that to the letter ever since. So pls understand: if I see comments that I feel I can add to on list, and I’m around (it’s only occasional that I’ve time & energy to visit - not just this forum but all forums to which I subscribe, ditto social media), then I do. But generally speaking, if I’ve the energy to spend here, I figure my time is generally better spent writing, as I do so comparatively little now (this has been my worst year on that front; so far, I’ve published only 14 articles, and expect to manage, st best, 5-6 more before year’s end). I hope this makes sense and that you can understand that I do engage on the forum when I visit it (last couple days is first time in weeks)...but if a review says all I need to say, that’s what I do. I admit it looks a little funky here, but with many people posting about albums they like (often with very little said about them), I feel my reviews best articulate my feelings about them....so, while I’m linking to reviews elsewhere, you should consider them as comments....and I link to AAJ because i can’t put them here, in their entirety. I’m sorry, too, if it’s bugging you, but hope this explanation clarifies why I do what I do - and that I do engage in conversation when either asked or it seems as though I can add something(s) (like King Crimson’s 50th, as just one example). Cheers! John
Indeed...that and the 75th birthday celebration, Hommage à Eberhard Weber, with its big band interpretations and 30-minute Pat Metheny tribute, is both upbeat and excellent. Again, for any interested, you can find my reviews of both: Hommage à Eberhard Weber and Stages of a Long Journey. Note: on Stages, the version of Carla Bley’s “Syndrome” is a particular great; with Gary Burton and Jan Garbarek, with the saxophonist having long left more overtly jazz centric improv, it’s proof that it’s been a choice, as he demonstrates, on this incendiary version, that he can still blow over tough jazz tunes with the best of ‘em. On the subject of Weber, I had the privilege of conducting the first extended English language interview, where Weber opened up about the 2007 stroke that completely changed his life, back in 2013, a little over a year before I became ill and my writing and travel to cover events abroad became severely curtailed. I had no idea, at the time, that this interview would soon become something very personal, something to which I could relate in a very direct way, and something that would ultimately serve as a real source of inspiration to me to keep on, even if I was/am far more limited, and that my writing didn’t have to end. I appreciated Weber’s generosity when I did it, but I appreciate it even more now. It’s both honest and painful, AND uplifting and optimistic. Along with the interviews that I conducted for my liners to the John Abercrombie First Quartet box, I consider this amongst the very best I’ve done, completely the result of Weber’s generosity and absolute openness about what must have been a very painful change to his life. Eberhard Weber: Positive Pragmatism.
